Many executives require employees to sign agreements preventing them from competing against the company for a period of time after the workers leave.

The agreements serve as an insurance policy of sorts, helping ensure former employees do not use their knowledge and contacts in a way that economically hurts the business.

But they can devolve into bitter, costly court fights, and are not universally embraced by business owners.

Non-compete agreements will likely become more common in the Capital Region as the technology sector grows because of the intellectual property developed by the companies and the specialized skills of the workers.

“We seem to be seeing a lot more of those,” said Meghan Toner, an attorney at Hoffman Warnick LLC in Albany, which specializes in intellectual property law.

A recent survey by SHRM, the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management, found 53 percent of organizations have non-compete or non-disclosure agreements for intellectual property for science and technology issues.

“For us it’s very important when we acquire new companies for new employees to sign [them],” said Vikram Agrawal, CEO and president of eTransmedia, a 60-person medical software firm headquartered in Troy. “It’s important for customer retention. We have a lot of intellectual property ... and business secrets.”

Agrawal said he successfully sued to uphold a non-compete agreement when a former “key” employee at the company’s office in Pittsburgh tried to lure away customers for his own start-up firm.

“The judge realized it was not a case of him making a living,” Agrawal said. “It was a case of him of trying to hurt us.”

Taconic Farms Inc., a Hudson company that breeds mice for laboratory testing, requires non-compete agreements for certain high-level positions and departments, said Todd Little, president and CEO.

Little estimated less than 10 percent of the 1,000-member work force in the United States and Europe must abide by a non-compete.

“I tend to try to be very specific, particularly in the U.S., because the more specific, the more enforceable,” Little said. “Trying to tell someone they can’t work in an entire industry segment is much more difficult post-termination.”

Little said non-compete and non-solicitation agreements are good business practice, but he has a different view of them on a personal level.

“My honest opinion is that it’s not that important,” he said. “You hire people with good character and if you treat them properly while they are with you and they are leaving you, generally you’re going to get that kind of behavior in return.”

Ken Yanneck, president and CEO of IPLogic Inc., a Latham-based firm that supplies voice and data services to thousands of clients in many industries, said non-compete agreements provide a “false sense of security” because they are difficult to enforce.

He has never required them of employees at IPLogic, but has used them in cases where IPLogic acquired other companies.

The agreements are more trouble than they are worth if companies go after former employees, he said.

“It provides a lot of bad publicity,” Yanneck said. “People will not work for you in the future if they view you as a litigious employer. In the long term, it limits your potential in the community.”

Joanne Moon experienced what life is like when a company sues to enforce a non-compete.

Moon left her job as a general manager at Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp. in 2002 and co-founded Extreme Molding LLC, a silicone and plastic products manufacturer, at the Watervliet Arsenal.

Saint-Gobain sued, claiming Moon violated a one-year non-compete agreement. Moon said the lawsuit was “ridiculous” because she had no intent to pursue Saint-Gobain’s clients.

“They were very angry when I left, so they came after me,” Moon said. “I was starting a company from scratch with another female, and they were a $200 billion French-owned company.”

Moon said she wound up spending more than $20,000 on attorney fees, money that she could have used to help finance the startup. The case was settled out of court.